A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. One of the elements of His birth were the three gifts given to Him by the wise men from the East. The gifts were gold; symbolizing royalty for the King of Kings; frankincense, symbolizing the healer High Priest; and myrrh symbolizing his death and resurrection. Thus, we give gifts to each other at Christmas!

We lived in Seattle in the 1990’s. All through our marriage I worked as a landscaper. We could barely make ends meet; but we managed for two years. During that time our third daughter was born to us, just like the other two, in a discount teaching hospital. I stepped out believing for something better and landed a job for a software company. We went from barely making it to buying a house in Seattle and doing quite well.

Christmas 1994, I decided I wanted to do something special for Joan. I got together with the girls, Laura Michelle 8, Melanie Brooke 6 and Audra Lea 4 and made a plan. The wedding ring I had bought her was wearing thin. She had wanted it strengthened. It was a gold ring with a small diamond. All of us visited a small jeweler shop that I had noticed. I noticed it because it was located in a small, old house along a main road. We all stopped in to check it out. Inside we met an old man who was from Hungary. It was a humble shop. I showed him the ring and asked about what he could do for us. I mentioned adding a bigger diamond. My girls carefully watched him as he put his jeweler’s glasses on and took a closer look at the ring. He made his suggestion.

The small diamond could remain, and we could make it seem bigger by adding smaller diamonds around it. He said a cluster of diamonds on that style of ring would be perfect. My girls loved the idea. I think his quiet, foreign accent sealed the deal. I asked about price, and he gave me a price that fit my budget. This was in November so I made sure that he would be finished by Christmas. He assured us that all would be well.

I didn’t hear from him, but I wasn’t worried. Getting into December I stopped by his shop. There was a sign on the door saying they were moving locations. I looked through the window and could tell that everything was in disarray. A phone number was posted. I went home and called the number. No answer. For the next 2 weeks before Christmas I would call and stop by the shop. Nothing. The girls were asking me about the ring and finally before Christmas I had to let them know that I couldn’t locate the old man, his shop or the ring. I hadn’t told Joan yet either.

It was two days before Christmas. Joan was baking cookies and I took the girls with me to the market to buy some groceries. There was a bit of a dark cloud hanging over us. Our Christmas spirit was being sorely tested. It was Laura Michelle who saw him first. She pointed him out to the other girls. They then told me. There he was. He was slowly pushing a cart with an older woman who I assumed was his wife. We made our way over to him. He looked up and recognized us. He started speaking Hungarian to his wife. Before I knew it she was weeping and exclaiming Hungarian phrases of joy. There were tears in his eyes, he started to tell me the story; but we chose to all sit down together for him to complete the story.

He had been planning on doing less business and had made plans to work from home rather than the little shop. He had a heart attack at the beginning of December. It took him several weeks to recover and he still wasn’t as strong as he had been. His nephews had packed up the things in the shop and moved them to a storage unit. They had posted the phone number, but it was the wrong number. Ours was one of the few jobs he had going on. He had completed the job, and they had found our ring in the storage unit. The book he had that had my name and information was misplaced in the shuffle. That is why they were so amazed to see us at the store. Their Christmas spirit was also being sorely tested. We had a shared joy.

We both finished our shopping, and we followed them home to pick up the ring. I am not sure who was happier; us finding them and getting the ring, or them finding us and giving us the ring. We talked a bit, met the different family members; and went home to wrap the beautiful gift box he had placed the ring in. That present to Joan took on a magical aura for me and my girls. We were amazed. Joan would love it. She thought she was getting a thicker band for her wedding ring, and so when she saw the extra diamonds she was delighted. The best part was watching the girls fall all over themselves to tell her our Christmas Story.